Hunted
by TayliaNinja
Summary: Everything has gone wrong. The world is changing but it's not changing for the good. The darkness is clouding over Araluen. It's devouring it. People are scared. People are disappearing. It's not right. And Will is caught in the middle of it.AU.Will/Alyss
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Redmont, Araluen

_The rain was coming down quickly. The sounds of thunder kept ringing in Will's ears. It was loud. No, not just loud. It was close. It was very close. He had to get back to the cabin. The rain was coming so fast he could not see. It was like a storm. A huge storm was coming. Will closed his eyes and tried to breathe. He grabbed the reins of the horse and began to run back toward the cabin. He was soaked, he knew. _

_The thunder banged again. But this time it was right above him. Will took a deep breath and ran faster. Somewhere along the path he let go of the horse. Will turned around, expecting to find his horse waiting. But the horse was gone. He was confused and he bit his lip._

"_Tug?" His voice came out like a whisper in the screaming of the storm._

_He shook his head. This wasn't right. But he could not see anymore. The rain covered his vision. But Will kept trying. He moved around and looked for the missing horse. He had to find Tug. Then he realized that the horse was not Tug. It wasn't Tug that he had been pulling with him. It was something else. Something much, much worse than an innocent pony. _

_His breath caught in his throat so he could not scream out loud. But it was inside of him. Inside Will was screaming in terror and the fear was taking over his entire body. The fear consumed him._


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

Ranger Cottage, Redmont, Araluen.

Will sighed as he turned his spoon around in his soup. Today it had happened again. People of Redmont were disappearing with no trace. It wasn't right. There was no way to track down where they were going or who was doing it. The Force had already sent out a group of Rangers out to see what was going on. So far there had been no answers. But they needed answers. The Corps needed answers _now._

He pushed his dinner to the side and pulled out the most recent reports from his fellow Rangers. The letters had the oakleaf emblem on the side of them and he opened this slowly with a sigh. It seemed there was no hope in anyone he talked to these days. Even the people of Redmont castle were avoiding having conversations with him out of fear. They knew that talking to a Ranger about that sort of thing was very dangerous in the present time. The only friends he had at this moment was his former mentor Halt, Lady Pauline, Horace, and Alyss. He sighed as he thought of Horace. He only came around when he had a reason to. Horace had been avoiding riding much in the open to come his way to come to a castle. So Will's life had become very lonely in the past few months since the Darkness had come.

Will looked at the letter again. The letter was a notice from Crowley that informed everyone that the date of the Ranger Gathering was approaching. He sighed to himself once more and shook his head. He didn't know how many Rangers would dare to try and show at the Gathering. It was dangerous times in Araluen. Crowley stated that in his letter. Then something changed. The writing changed. _Dark_, it said. It was written in an old man's handwriting. It looked like whoever had wrote it was having trouble writing. It was like the quill he was using was shaking. He blinked his eyes. It changed again. _Cold_, it came again. Will looked around the room quickly. Nobody was there. He shook his head as the next word came. _Sacrifice_, the new word said.

"God," Will whispered quietly.

His heart rate was beginning to move faster as the forth word appeared. _Taken_, was the forth word. Will shook his head and put the paper under a pile of other reports from the Corps. He must have imagined that. Those sort of things did not happen. The Supernatural horror was an object of stories around the fire for some people to tell. After all, he didn't believe in Sorcery of anything of that sort. But now he was wondering if he should.

There was more movement. He gasped lightly as he saw the paper was on top of the stack again. _God, no. _But this time it wasn't something odd. It was back to normal.

_Rangers,_

_This letter is to inform all of you of the upcoming Annual Ranger Gathering. The Gathering will be held at its usual spot. It is understandable if you are not able to attend. Please send a letter to myself if you are not able to attend this Gathering. In the present state of the country many will not be coming to our Gathering this year. But having our Ranger Gathering has been tradition of the Rangers since the beginning of our Corps. I hope most of you will be able to make it once again._

_Crowley_

_Commandant of Ranger Corps _

_Stationed at Castle Araluen. _

Will shook his head. He must be going crazy. Then suddenly he felt cold. No, he felt beyond cold. He was freezing. The feeling was the same as he felt when he was a slave in Skandia working in the frigid weather there. But this time it was worse. It was way worse. He took a deep breath and dropped the letter. It fell from his hands quickly, like it was being pulled away. He hated this. He didn't understand any of it. But he had to. It was his job here as a Ranger to stop anything gone wrong inside the country. And something here was wrong. Very, very wrong.

The young Ranger closed his eyes then opened them slowly. His heart rate was still racing and it moved faster when he saw the sight before him. It was black. The entire wall was black. He shook his head and looked down at the table that held his reports and his dinner. The soup was frozen inside its bowl. Will shook his head and looked back up at the wall.

It was like there was a hole inside of it. But that could not be possible. Things like this never happen in reality. But it was happening. It was _his_ reality. Right now this was happening.

Taking a deep breath, the Ranger slowly moved towards the hole.


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

The hole lead to darkness.

Will kept his hand on the wall of the cabin, sliding it along it as he walked ever so slowly down into the unknown.

It suddenly turned cold.

Earlier today it had been the usual warmth of Seacliff, Araluen. It was not too hot but a nice moderate temperature, with bright clear skies. In the morning, Will had not expected this.

Will wondered if the temperature had gone down so many degrees everywhere or if it was just him.

The wall was wet and slimy, cold to the touch. He removed his fingers away from the wall, trying to see what was on his fingers. But he could only see darkness. It was nothing but black. Everywhere he looked it was black.

Then he heard the sound of water freezing, turning into solid ice. But it was too quick this time. Water never became ice that quickly. But it did.

Will's eyes looked desperately around the dark tunnel. He could not see a thing and the thought did not make the Ranger at all comfortable. He was used to being able to everything from afar, nobody ever noticing he's there but always being able to know what was going on. This wasn't normal.

"Hello?"

Will yelled the words, louder and more calm than he felt inside.

"Who is there?" Will asked to nobody in particular.

No answer came. It was all silence, everywhere. Will's breathing was becoming more and more frequent as he slipped and tripped down the tunnel of darkness. His breathing was coming in ragged gasps. It smelled horrible in the darkened tunnel. The scent of rust and dirt burned in his nostrils, making him grimace.

He suddenly felt cold everywhere. Will walked faster, using his left arm to hold against his chest as the other ran along the shivering wall.

Then he heard sounds. A scream, a woman by the sound of it. A baby screeching in pain. A dog moaning. Will gasped, looking rapidly for the source.

Then all went black. The Ranger hit the ground with a muted thud.

******

"Will?"

Will opened his brown eyes slowly, trying to remember what had happened. She came into the focus of his blurred eyes surprising quickly.

It was Edwina.

Her usual wide and welcoming smile was not present anymore. He brilliant green eyes were filled with worry, her soft lips pushed hard together as she knelt caringly beside her young friend.

"Edwina?"

He croaked the words out, sounding horrible. The older woman's eyes then began to show relief and a tiny smile began to form on her beautiful face.

"Will, you're on the floor, all wet. Are you alright?" Edwina whispered.

Will got up from the cold floor and straightened up his clothing. His brown eyes observed his cottage with a keen eye. It was just as normal. The semi-clean home was as usual. There were bright yellow flowers on his dining table. He could smell their bright scent from where he was standing.

"I'm fine, Edwina." He smiled.

She returned his smile gratefully then frowned, looking at the floor. Her hair covered her tanned face so he could not see her expression when she asked the young man her next question.

"But what were you going on the floor?"

Will shrugged. "I must have taken a fall." He offered no more explanation than that.

The older woman smiled, seeming to accept his answer and used one hand to point towards the countertop of his kitchen.

"I brought you stew, Will." Her green eyes sparkled.

The scent suddenly came to him. It was off fresh vegetables and meat. Carrots, celery, and meat was all easy to identify. He moved his gaze away from his dinner to smile broadly at the motherly lady and nodded his thanks.

"Thank you, Edwina." Will smiled. "It smells delicious."

Edwina smiled widely; proud of her skills before announcing she was needed to be back at the inn.

Will accepted the fact and said goodbye. Then he walked towards the stew and as he did, it all came back him.

The hole. The cold. The writing. The tunnel.

The Ranger stopped and looked towards the hole. Except there was no hole. At least, he thought to himself, not anymore.

The wall was as it would have been before. It was white, solid, and hard. Will shook his head, confused before realizing what he was stepping in.

Water was everywhere.

Puddles and puddles of it were on his flooring. Will walked gently, listening hard to faint and harsh sounds of his feet as he walked.

Then he saw the red.

It was a line, almost perfectly drawn across the cold floor. It lead on for a while until it finally stopped in the kitchen, next to where the stew was steaming, hot with flavors.

It was blood, he realized.

Will gasped, his heart hammering in his chest faster and faster. He saw something new that he had not noticed a few seconds ago when he had first noticed the trail of red. It was red, blood-stained, and battered.

It looked to be a piece of parchment. Or a note of some kind.

Will walked slowly towards it and picked it up in his trembling hands, shaking as he tried to read the contents.

_She's here._

That's all the note said. Angry, Will turned the parchment over in his rapidly shaking hands, seeking more to it. He was confused and the words made no sense. But that's all the note said. It was written sloppily in black ink, seeming to stick out hugely from the darkened red.

_She's here._

Then Will heard the breathing. It was ragged, loud and low. Will looked up quickly. His hands moved toward his knife in an instant. He clutched the weapon with confidence, ready to point it at whatever was coming. The noise was joined by another one. It was different. But this one was just as unwelcome as the first.

Footsteps, deep and loud. Coming closer and getting louder.

* * *


End file.
